Inspiration
by YesILikeEridan
Summary: Ichigo has found himself love struck, but with whom? None other than the stoically handsome transfer student, Byukuya Kuchiki. Ichigo doesn't think his feelings could or should ever be returned, but maybe with a little help the two of the most stubborn people in the world might find happiness together. Rating may be changed in future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Ichigo let his thoughts wander as he stared up at the twinkling stars in the clear night sky. He felt the tickle of grass on the back of his neck and the slight dampness that had started to seep through his clothes. If he concentrated, he could just about hear the faint sounds of traffic coming from the nearby town.

As he lay on the damp ground, he thought of his life; of his sisters and father, of school and of his friends, but most of all he thought about Byakuya.

Ichigo felt a smile tug at his lips when the image of the cool-eyed transfer student entered his mind. He closed his eyes and focused on remembering every detail of his crush's face, from his beautifully pale skin to the ever present frown that seemed to be carved into his face.

Ichigo could put his hand to his heart and truthfully swear that he loved Byakuya. He knew it was more than a brief period of infatuation; he could _feel_ it. Every day he kept his feelings to himself they only seemed to grow stronger.

But Byakuya was far out of his league. Ichigo was not stupid enough to think he had half a chance with him. Byakuya was the son of the CEO of some important company. He was very well-to-do, rule abiding and sometimes so polite and stiff he came across as snobbish. He was incredibly handsome, with his silky black hair and chiselled features and had become incredibly popular with both girls and guys alike during his brief time in Karakura Town.

Ichigo, on the other hand, was the son of the owner of a small local clinic, and while it generated enough money for him and his family to live comfortably, it was nothing compared to the luxury Byakuya was surely used to.

Ichigo thought he was fairly average in the looks department. His bright orange hair was either an asset or a liability, depending on who was looking. He didn't think his face was _ugly_ per se, but he was often told how handsome he would be without the constant angry look he wore. He was in shape; he worked out often and enjoyed running and martial arts.

He wasn't aware, however, that he was also quite popular and had quite a few admirers. Some people thought that his hot-headedness was sexy. And Ichigo could get so passionate sometimes, girls especially liked that and many fantasised about him being that worked up about _them_.

Ichigo stole a glance at his watch and decided that it was time for him to head home. He dragged himself to his feet and brushed himself down before meandering through the sparse trees that his little clearing was surrounded by.

After he broke away from the trees he jogged slowly to his bike. It was a cool night and his breath formed little clouds. Soon it would be too cold for him to go up to the clearing at all; winter had just come around and Ichigo hated the flu with a fiery passion.

He undid the lock to the chain that held his bike to a fence that overlooked a slight cliff. He folded the chain into the basket attached to the handlebars and hopped onto his bike before pedalling his way towards the sounds of the town.

Ichigo had slid on a high-vis jacked before mounting his bicycle, but hadn't bothered with a helmet. He didn't have one that fitted him properly, and anyway, the chances of him having an accident were incredibly slim.

He navigated his way down a winding path until he came to a crossroads. Here, Ichigo took a left turn and cycled past the houses and scarce shops that had been built on the outskirts of Karakura Town.

It wasn't long until he reached the door of his house. He stowed his bicycle away around the back of the house and quietly crept inside the front door. He mentally thanked Yuzu for leaving the door unlocked for him.

All the lights were out and he could hear his father's loud snores coming from the floor above. A quick glance at the clock in the kitchen told him it was well past ten o'clock.

Ichigo slid his shoes off and silently climbed the stairs to get ready for bed. He had school the following morning and quite a few winter tests to boot.

Usually the exams were left until the week before the holidays, but since many students were absent during that time for whatever reason in upcoming years, it was decided that they would be moved forward. This meant that Ichigo had had a lot less time to prepare for them, which in turn meant that now he was more stressed and short tempered than usual.

Ichigo felt his previously relaxed shoulders begin to tense up. He sighed and slid between the covers on his bed. He was just about to fall asleep when he got a text.

He groaned and unlocked his phone. It told him that it was now quarter past eleven.

_Who the hell is texting me now? I was just about to fall asleep._

Ichigo groaned again when he saw that it was from Rukia. She wanted a place to crash for the night, and was apparently waiting outside the house.

"One second" Ichigo had texted back, and he made his way down the stairs to let her in.

"Thank you Ichigo!" she had exclaimed enthusiastically, and Ichigo hadn't wasted any time in whispering at her to shut up.

They were both used to this routine. Rukia lived with her sister, both of whom had moved into a house a few blocks away a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, Hisana – Rukia's sister – was ill and she often had overnight stays at the hospital. Sometimes Rukia was fine by herself, but other times she needed company, even if it was just to take her mind off of things.

Whenever the need arose, she slept on a spare futon that had been set up in Ichigo's rather spacious closet. It allowed them both a bit of privacy without either of them being completely alone.

The two were best friends; they understood each other and could empathise no matter what the situation, but at the same time neither of them were afraid to call the other out on their bullshit and give them a push (or a lot of the time, a punch) in the right direction.

After Rukia had been settled comfortably in the closet with her stuffed bunny, Ichigo switched off the light and climbed into his own bed.

The two drifted off quickly, and Ichigo's dreams were filled with all manners of things; from food to frogs to felons. The only thing they all had in common was that they always contained Byakuya, smiling his rare smile and simply _being_ with Ichigo.

The ones with Byakuya were always Ichigo's favourite dreams.

**A/N yay! New story. **

**This story is pretty much an 'everyone's human and somehow attending the same school in some way or another' AU. **

**There will be smut in future chapter(s) as soon as I get around to writing them, but it will probably be a while before that happens, mainly because of school and the fact that MY CHRISTMAS EXAMS ARE THIS WEEK AND I AM DYING.**

**My school pretty much decided to do what Ichigo's school did. People were missing the last week of school so they moved the exams forward giving me about A MONTH LESS TIME TO STUDY. It also meant that we had to fly through the criteria. **

**In short, I am fucked. I have my German, science and English exams tomorrow and I literally don't know any of the stuff. Goodbye higher level, hello pass class.**

**Anyways, I do not own Bleach or any of the characters, only the faint hints of a plot.**

**Please review and follow/favourite, I'd love to hear what you guys think about the new jumble of words that I have decided to call a story.**

**Thank you for reading and putting up with my rant about school :o) **

**Wow this author's note is really long. Cookies for you for reading this far! **


	2. Chapter 2

Ichigo groaned as he reached to silence his alarm clock. Shakily, he got to his feet and headed to the bathroom, where he quickly got ready for school. After a quick shower, Ichigo felt ready to tackle the day.

He pulled back the door to his closet and shook Rukia awake. She was adorable; her small frame was curled around her stuffed bunny and her hair was fluffed up all over the place.

"Go 'way, Ichigo" she mumbled and turned over, digging her face into the pillow.

"Rukia come on! We're going to be late and we have exams today. Hurry up!" Ichigo let out an exasperated sigh and closed the door. He busied himself with getting dressed and stuffing the books he needed for the day into his bag.

He was half way through his breakfast by the time Rukia joined him. She fixed herself a meal and the two ate in silence before cleaning up and heading out the door on their way to school. It was a nice day; a bit cool perhaps, but it was dry and the sky was clear and blue.

They passed by Rukia's house on their way, and she quickly grabbed her school bag and slipped into her uniform before they continued on their tedious walk to hell- I mean school.

They talked about meaningless things; who was going out with whom, who was hot, and to Ichigo's disappointment, the release of some new 'Chappy the Bunny' merchandise that Rukia was obsessed with.

The duo met up with their friends at the entrance to the school. Orihime, Chad and Renji had been talking about something or other and shelved their discussions to greet Ichigo and Rukia. Everyone seemed pretty uneasy about the exams they would be taking; Renji nervously twirled his bright red hair between his fingers, Orihime babbled and Chad was fiddling with his hands. Uryu was nowhere to be seen, and Ichigo noticed this.

"Hey guys, isn't Uryu usually here by now?" he inquired. As he did so, his brows furrowed slightly, as if he was contemplating some great mystery.

"Oh, he came really early today and he's already inside. I bet he's studying in the classroom. Oh God, I should have studied more! I'm going to fail-why is maths so hard? I should have paid more attention why did I doodle through class," came the longwinded-and somewhat hysterical-reply from Orihime.

Rukia patted her back comfortingly, "You'll be fine, you always do really well. Just relax."

Many deep breaths later Orihime seemed much calmer, though her fingers drummed against her thigh restlessly.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm freezing my tits off here. I'm going inside," Renji's voice broke through the silence, and with a giggle from Orihime the gang headed inside the building.

After a trip to their respective lockers, the five met up in their homeroom where Uryu was in fact studying.

The pale fingers of his left hand cupped a page in his text book, while the index of his right hand followed under the words he had marked in a pale blue highlighter. His expression was impossible to make out; what wasn't masked by his glasses was covered by the silky strands of his hair which had fallen in front of his face.

Uryu looked up from the book as he sensed the others grouping around his desk.

After a period of idle chatter, Uryu went back to studying and Orihime followed suit, pulling a massive maths text book from her bag. Ichigo wondered how she had managed to lug the thing around with her. It really was massive.

Rukia had managed to trick Chad into a conversation about Chappy the Bunny, so Ichigo settled at his desk and contented himself with staring out the window. That was, until a certain someone entered the classroom.

Ichigo felt a faint blush form on his cheeks as the object of his affections entered the classroom and seated himself. He had opted not to wear his usual hair clips and so his dark locks cascaded down to frame his face. Byakuya's icy eyes surveyed the room as though he were looking for someone.

'_Probably looking for Yoruichi' _Ichigo thought as he followed the movement of Byakuya's eyes. He jumped slightly and hurriedly lowered his head when Byakuya's pale blue eyes met with his own. '_Crap he caught me looking. Maybe he won't realise I was staring? Crap crapity crap crap crap.'_

Ichigo's mind went into overdrive and there was a very noticeable pink hue painted on his cheeks. He laid his head down on his desk in an attempt to mask his embarrassment, but little did he know that Byakuya was scrutinising his every move.

Byakuya was watching very closely out of the corner of his eye and when he saw Ichigo bang his head on the table repeatedly, the tiniest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He could just about see the now fire-truck-red blush on Ichigo's cheeks as the boy's head rested on the table.

'_That stupid boy has probably given himself a concussion.' _He pondered the chances of such a thing happening. It was highly unlikely that a person could do such harm just by knocking their cranium on a wooden surface, but then again, it was Ichigo he was thinking about. Byakuya honestly wouldn't put anything past him at this stage.

Byakuya sighed and tore his gaze from Ichigo as the teacher entered the room and started taking attendance.

There were more than a few moans and groans as students were handed out booklets which told them to go to certain rooms for their different exams. Byakuya was one of the few people who had bothered to prepare properly for the tests, and so he was unaffected by the relocation.

One thing caught his mind, however.

On the little leaflet of test times and such, it came to his attention that they would be in pairs for certain exams, and who else would he happen to be paired with but the boy that seemed to catch his attention so remarkably, Ichigo Kurosaki.

Maybe the day wouldn't be as boring as he had thought.

**A/N this took forever. I am so sorry, I had it done but then I kept trying to add stuff on to make the ending less crappy and I kept on changing my mind and so this took weeks to upload.**

**Please don't kill me.**

**I do not own Bleach or any of the characters (I don't know why we even do these, if I owned the damned thing everyone would be gay af).**

**A special thank you to my beta dancing elf.**

**Thank you for the kind reviews solka and the guest whom I do not know the username of. They made my whole week when I read them :) **

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please don't forget to review and stuff. I promise updates will be more timely (and longer) in future.**


	3. Chapter 3

Ichigo stared at the booklet in his hands, unable to believe what it told him. For a grand total of three exams he would be working side by side with Byakuya Kuchiki who just happened to be the current object of his affections.

His first exam was maths, and it was every man for himself as far as that was concerned. Ichigo slung his bag across his shoulder and headed to the allotted exam room. He tried not to, but his eyes still found their way to Byakuya's stoic face as he stood up and gathered his belongings.

Ichigo wasn't sure if he really saw it or if he was just imagining things, but he could've sworn that he caught Byakuya's eye as he stood up, and that a slight smirk graced his usually expressionless face.

Ichigo shook his head as he entered the exam room and took his seat near the back window. He watched the clouds for a minute until someone plonked themselves down in the seat beside him. It was a rather nervous looking Renji, who as soon as he sat down pulled out a textbook and started flicking through the pages, trying to take in even an ounce of extra information.

Ichigo would have done the same if he could have been bothered. He was confident enough that he knew what he needed to know and he was too busy thinking about those paired exams to be worrying about the one that was less than minutes away from starting.

They were to be paired for chemistry, English and home economics. Ichigo was especially glad that he would not be forced to go through the hellish English exam unaided. He had always found foreign languages hard, but he had worked his ass off and had managed to get good grades regardless.

His musings were interrupted when the teacher entered the badly heated classroom and handed out the test papers, notifying the students that if they turned them over early they would be docked marks. Ichigo felt a sudden bout of nervousness rise in his chest as the teacher signalled for them to begin, but pushed it aside and turned over his paper. He quickly scribbled down his name and class and set out solving his simultaneous equations and badly written word problems.

The hour long exam passed quickly. Ichigo finished with five minutes to spare and spent that time diligently looking over his answers for any mistakes. He handed in his paper when the overseer- I mean teacher called for the end of exam time. He left the room feeling happy with himself, which others saw as the absence of the signature scowl that usually graced his- rather handsome- features.

A quick glance at his booklet told Ichigo that he was to head to his homeroom for a study period before his next test, which was the much dreaded English exam.

The following hour was eerily quiet; many of the usual shuffles and coughs were not present as half the class was partaking in a music exam. Ichigo guessed that Byakuya was included in that group as he was nowhere to be seen, though Yoruichi was sitting at the back flipping through a textbook and looking rather bored.

The bell _finally_ went and Ichigo pushed his way through the crowded hallways to get to the correct class. He was one of the first to arrive, and was greeted by the slightly temperamental but none the less aesthetically pleasing Miss Rangiku Matsumoto, who was coincidentally his English teacher.

Byakuya was already sitting at a double desk near the back, and after quickly glancing down at his booklet to be absolutely sure that this was happening, Ichigo wound his way carefully through the haphazardly (dis)organised desks and sat carefully on the seat next to Byakuya's.

A silence ensued as the two waited for the exam to begin. When all the seats were filled, Miss Matsumoto handed out the tests and told them to begin.

Ichigo tried to ignore the worry that was clawing at his gut, both from the stress of the exam and the fact that his long time crush was sitting right next to him, and if they wanted to pass this class they would have to actively engage in conversation.

Seeing that Ichigo was making no move to do so, Byakuya opened the test and wrote their names in the space provided. Ichigo couldn't help but admire his handwriting. It was elegant and had a certain _flow _to it. So much so that it held a remarkable resemblance with the calligraphy found in ancient texts and such.

Ichigo snapped out of his daze as he felt himself being stared at. Piercing grey eyes examined his chocolate ones, and he felt himself blush.

"Stop staring," Ichigo managed to grumble out his disapproval of being under the other man's scrutinous gaze.

Byakuya looked away, and for the second time Ichigo thought he caught the hint of a smirk on those wondrous lips.

Byakuya started to fill in the answers. Not once did he ask Ichigo for his opinion on something, and the exceptional lack of cooperation started to irritate the brown eyed boy.

Unable to sit in the quiet any longer, Ichigo grabbed the test sheet form under Byakuya's hands and examined the questions.

Ichigo ignored the elegant eyebrow that was raised in his direction. He may have found the subject difficult, but he would not let himself get a grade because of someone else's work. If he didn't at least _try _to help he would feel incredibly guilty and would probably end up feeling like shit.

After Ichigo wrote down a few answers, Byakuya pointed at number six.

"You've made a mistake here." He didn't sound like he was judging or trying to put Ichigo down, he was simply pointing out a mistake.

Ichigo reread the question a couple of times. After the third time he had still not found his error. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration as his eyebrows knitted together.

Seeing his partner in such a restless state, Byakuya decided it was time to explain the answer to him.

"For this question you need to turn the verbs into their three tenses. The past tense of 'cut' is 'cut'. There is no e-d."

Ichigo looked up from his hands and read the question once more. He flashed Byakuya a thankful smile and busied himself with changing the answer on the page.

He didn't see Byakuya look away and clench his fist underneath the table.

If he was honest with himself- and he did try to be honest- Byakuya would have admitted to himself that he was going to have a hard time sitting through the remaining 40 minutes without making some sort of move on Ichigo.

This one time, honesty was not the first thing on his mind.

**A/N: So there you have it, chapter three. It took so god damned long is the only problem.**

**I have not abandoned A New Beginning *whispers* yet, but I am out of ideas for the time being so it is on hiatus.**

**I realise that everyone is a little ooc and that this fic is taking forever to get moving, but I might maybe sort of probably have a plan for the next few chapters.**

**Anyways, adios for now, I hope you enjoyed this chapter :3 Thank you for all the favourites and follows, they mean a lot 3**

**As always, please review :o)**


	4. Chapter 4

Byakuya couldn't help but stare at Ichigo as he worked diligently on the English questions. The orange haired teen struggled with a few of them, but Byakuya was more than happy to lean in close and remedy his mistakes.

Ichigo had the adorable habit of chewing his lip when he was thinking. More than once he blew his hair out of his face in frustration, letting Byakuya catch a glimpse of his overly concentrated features.

Byakuya couldn't help but think about how cute he was. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear Ichigo ask for his opinion on one of the more difficult questions. He snapped to attention quickly, and after a few minutes of discussion Ichigo thanked him with a shy smile and carefully wrote down the answer.

Byakuya had to turn away so Ichigo would not catch the expression of want that had somehow managed to paint itself on his usually poised and stoic features. He could feel the light blush that had tainted his cheeks and took deep breaths in the hope that it would rid him of the flushed feeling. Damn Ichigo for smiling at him like that.

In his mind he was acting like a love struck fool, and he was not one bit happy about that. But no matter what he tried to convince himself, the stubborn feelsy part of his brain would not let up on the fact that he had it bad for the boy working away next to him.

Byakuya was torn from his fruitless attempt at arguing with himself by a light tapping on his arm. He turned to Ichigo, and before his exam partner could say anything, he plucked the pen from his fingers without as much as a word. Ichigo looked at him with an expression of slight surprise and unhidden annoyance as Byakuya began to quickly fill in the remaining blank spaces with his impossibly neat calligraphy.

Gone was the look of content concentration that Ichigo had been unknowingly wearing through the exam. In its place was a scowl that could turn milk sour, and it was directed at that pompous asshole Byakuya Kuchiki.

Ichigo grabbed his partner's wrist and stole back his pen. He took the paper and turned away from his crush, thinking to complete the test with it resting on his lap.

Now, Byakuya was never one to act on impulse. He was quite the opposite in fact; all of his actions were usually thought through and carefully calculated.

The knowledge of what he usually did did nothing to influence the way he lifted Ichigo onto his lap and pushed the exam paper back onto the desk as Miss Rangiku Matsumoto looked on with an amused expression.

Unaware of his teacher's gaze, Byakuya then took Ichigo's hand in his own and removed the pen from his grasp. He rested his chin on Ichigo's head and proceeded to complete the test before reading it over quickly and turning it over.

Ichigo was panicking silently in the lap of his crush. His face was red with embarrassment and he was sure he could hear the other students whispering about his current predicament.

He was convinced that Byakuya knew how he felt about him and was toying with him, teasing someone who didn't have a chance.

Anger bubbled up in his chest. He felt his eyes begin to water, but he pushed the tears back. He hadn't cried in years and he was not about to start now. His fist clenched unconsciously and he had the sudden urge to make sure that Byakuya left the exam room with a few less of his perfect teeth.

But he couldn't hurt him.

No matter how angry he was, Ichigo couldn't ever bring himself to hit Byakuya.

He was drawn out of his despair by a pair of strong arms winding around his waist.

Ichigo closed his eyes tight. This really was getting too much for him. If Byakuya didn't let up on him soon, he was sure he would burst into tears. He didn't trust himself to speak, or even look at his persecutor for that matter.

He started to tremble and Byakuya noticed almost immediately.

The black haired man snapped out of whatever stupor had possessed him to hold the other teen in such and intimate way and carefully lifted him off his lap and into the adjacent chair.

"Sorry."

Ichigo's red face snapped up at the apology, and he looked questioningly at Byakuya. He still didn't trust himself to speak.

Byakuya repeated his short apology and turned away to busy himself with checking over their test.

At this stage, Ichigo was feeling incredibly hard done by. He was sure that Byakuya's apology was sincere, but... why did he cradle him like that in the first place? At the beginning of the exam he wasn't even willing to let Ichigo help him on the test. What did it mean? Was... did Byakuya like him?

When the bell rang signalling the end of the exam Ichigo high tailed it out of there. He didn't even make sure the test was handed in. The need to get out of the stuffy room was so great he almost tripped himself up on the way to the door.

As he handed in the test, Miss Matsumoto stopped Byakuya and told him to wait.

Byakuya sighed but did as he was told; he had a free period next anyway while a materials technology exam was taking place.

Rangiku was a friend of his family. She had had an annoying presence in his life since before he could remember and she had the uncanny habit of butting into his affairs and giving him unneeded and useless advice.

When the last student had left the room, Rangiku closed the door and hurried back to where Byakuya was standing.

"So, the Kurosaki kid, huh?" she inquired with a smirk.

"I do not see how this is any concern of yours," Byakuya replied coolly.

"Oh don't be like that! Come on Bya-kun, please tell me," Rangiku pleaded with a false pout. Byakuya shuddered at the use of his nick name. He hated it with a passion. Hearing it made him feel physically sick.

"If I tell you will you promise to never refer to me as 'Bya-kun' again," he asked dryly. It pained him to do so, but he had managed to spit the cutesy name out.

"Pinkie promise!" came the enthusiastic response. Byakuya was pretty sure that his teacher was drunk. Again. Hopefully, that would mean she wouldn't remember the conversation they were about to have.

He sighed and resigned himself to his fate. Rangiku was bouncing on her heels as Byakuya 'described' what was going on with Ichigo.

He felt like he would have to wash his ears out with bleach after Rangiku lectured him on the importance of using lube and ... you do not even want to know.

Rangiku's into some seriously kinky shit.

**A/N gaaaaaahhhh I am dying. I am plagued by some stubborn disease, I have had it for a week at this stage and it shows no sign of letting up. Yay.**

**And I still have to go to school, I've already missed way too many days. I missed a big chunk of school to attend a funeral oversees and I get sick easily and often so... yeah. I'm feeling well and truly sorry for myself. To top it off I haven't been able to go to my youth group for two weeks straight because my brother has had dentist appointments. I miss it, it's the only place I feel comfortable being around a large group of people. **

**Well, end vent.**

**I apologise for any errors, grammatical or otherwise. I had trouble writing for Rangiku, she's not a character I ever read too much into but I have recently found a love for her and so she will feature in this fic (and maybe others) in the future.**

**I do not own Bleach. Unfortunately.**

**Thank you for reading this fic and the rather large authors note. I really do appreciate all the support.**

**Thank you Erudite Elephant for the lovely review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter :3**

***Insert customary plea for you to review***


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